Resources on the CLN: The Vault

Looking for a job? There are so many companies to choose from. What you need is a way to compare them all based on factors that are important to you. The Vault can help you with this, and while you’re there, why not read some of the many articles that are related to the job you’re looking for?

The Vault: Exploring Careers

Under the Resources tab on the CLN website, there is a link to The Vault. You will be asked to create an account, enter some information about yourself, and choose some industries that you’re interested in. If you’d like, you can enter your interests and work experience as well, and make your profile viewable to employers. You can also create job alerts based on specific criteria, so when positions and companies you’re interested in are hiring employees, you will be notified immediately.

Reviews and Rankings

The Vault ranks companies, schools and internship programs. You can choose to view an overall ranking, or rankings based on different criteria such as business outlook, formal training, client interaction, and diversity for women. You can also view more specific rankings, such as the best law firms for real estate or securities. In all situations, the website gives you the ranking for the current year and the previous year. If you see something that interests you, you can click on the company and it will list its highest ranking on all lists, reviews, and a complete look at the hiring process.

Industries and Professions

The Vault has an impressive 12 pages worth of industries that you can choose from, ranging from Advertising and Agriculture and through Radio and Real Estate. For example, clicking investment management, you have a general overview and different sectors within that industry (hedge fund, mutual fund, private equity, and venture capital). It also has a brief history of each of the sectors, their structures, and an overall outlook. Finally, it includes featured companies and related professions if you decide you’re interested, or related industries if you’re looking for something similar. 

Jobs and Internships

It also has a database of jobs and internships that can be narrowed down according to salary and duration of work. The job postings include wages, qualifications, and responsibilities to give you a very thorough idea of what the job requires of you.

Resumes, Interviews, and Career Advice

Need help on Resumes, Cover Letters, and Interviews? The Vault has a large selection of articles with tips on all of these subjects. The Career Advice blog also has articles on job searching, networking, new research in different industries, and more.

Good luck,

Angelin

Job Search: Important Preliminary Steps for a Successful Career

Looking for jobs can be extremely time-consuming and stressful. It can get even more challenging for students who are juggling intense coursework along the side. But if you take these baby steps towards developing your career, everything will work out in your favor.

Choosing a Career

A lot of students are not clear as to what career path they want to pursue during their undergraduate studies. And if you are in the same boat, don’t worry. The Academic Advising and Career Center is there to help you out. Begin by exploring your interests and understand the career options available for your discipline of study. You would be amazed at the endless opportunities out there for you. At times, choosing a career can be difficult especially if you are confused as to what is the best option for you. I would highly recommend talking to a Career Counsellor at the AA&CC. Feel free to come to our office and inquire about our Career Drop-In hours which will be extremely useful in helping you figure out what you are interested in.

Start on Campus

There are a lot of resources available on campus to help you get started with your career. Many jobs require experience and UTSC gives their students ample of opportunities to start developing the relevant experiences. I would highly recommend starting through the Work Study program at UofT. Through personal experience, I can honestly say that Work Study is not only a good work experience but is a great learning experience as well. In my first year, I applied to several jobs on and off campus but sadly all of them required solid work experience which I did not have. Following that year, I was fortunate enough to be given a Work Study position which was the start of my work experience. After that, securing jobs off campus have been a piece of cake due to the work experiences in my university degree. A good thing about the Work Study Program is that the hours are very flexible. Also, there are many departments that offer Work Study which means that you have a variety of disciplines to choose from when applying for a position. All Work Study positions are posted on the Career Learning Network website: https://cln.utoronto.ca/home.htm

For more information on the Work Study Program, check out the AA&CC website:

http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/aacc/work-study-program-0

Explore Off-Campus

Finding a job off campus can be very strenuous and challenging, especially if you have just started exploring the real world outside university. However, the resources on campus will help make the process easier. The Career Learning Network website lists different off campus job postings to consider. It is a huge database which contains jobs from various fields and locations in and outside of Canada. It is also a very user friendly website with different filters that can help narrow your search down which will list exactly what you are looking for. Also, if you come to the AA&CC office, you will find various career related magazines on our rack. They are a great resource which will help you kick start your job search. You can also check out the Job Postings Canada website: www.jobpostings.ca to find work off campus. This website is specifically designed for students looking for jobs that require little to no experience. They also offer job postings by big names in Retail, Marketing, and Finance etc. It is an amazing off-campus resource that I highly recommend you to use.

All these resources are available to you as a UTSC student to help you build a career that interests you the most. Remember that you don’t have to do this alone. The Career Counsellors at the AA&CC are more than happy to answer any questions that you may have and help you overcome all the difficulties you may come across along the way. I wish you guys all the best in your future endeavors.

Happy Searching!

Ayesha Haq

What's Your Learning Style?

Study groups can be very productive, and a good way to learn the material before a test. For my last midterm exam, I got together with two of my friends to review and I felt that I got to learn a lot of information I had missed when studying on my own in a fast and effective way. However, at other times when I've formed a study group I just couldn't keep up. What's up with that? It probably has something to do with how the information was presented in the different groups and learning styles.

Learning styles vary from person to person, can change over time or between occasions, and usually occur in a combination. They often include three different modalities of learning: visualizing style, auditory style, and tactile or kinesthetic style. There are numerous resources that can help you find your dominant learning style online and on campus. For example, you may want to take the “Learning Styles Inventory” on the AA&CC website (http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/aacc/node/69 at the bottom of the page), or come to one of our Study Skills Seminars at the AA&CC to assess how you learn best.

Take a look at the descriptions of each type of learner and some tips for how you can enhance your learning as a visual, auditory or a tactile/kinetic learner.

Visualizing style learner

Visual learners learn best by seeing. For example, these types of students need to see materials, read textbooks, and look at diagrams, graphs and charts to grasp ideas and concepts.

Some tips to enhance your learning include...

•   Colour code your notes and materials (ex. highlighting, tabbing)

•   Create a one page concept maps of each chapter you read to help you organize ideas

•   Make up acronyms or symbols to represent key words or concepts as a memory aide

•   Draw pictures to go along with your notes

•   Look for graphs, diagrams and charts to summarize what you've learned

•   Find videos to help you learn or review concepts

•   Picture visual cues to go along with information that you learn (ex. places where the information could be applied)

Auditory style learner

Auditory learners learn best by hearing. For example, these types of students need to hear lectures, discuss material, and read out loud to understand what's being taught.

Some tips to enhance your learning include...

•   Read your text books out loud

•   Tape your lectures (with permission from your instructor) and re-listen to them

•   Recite material you are memorizing out loud

•   Create a song or jingle out of your material

•   Create a story out of what you're learning

•   Record yourself practicing your material out loud, listen to the recording multiple times

•   Have group study discussions

•   Answer peer questions in a study group

•   Talk to your professor during office hours

•   Make word associations 

•   Practice your answers out loud

Tactile or kinesthetic learner

Tactile learners learn best through touch or movement. For example, these types of students need to create models, practice hands-on work, write and re-write notes (multiple times) to absorb material.

Some tips to enhance your learning include...

•   Write and re-write notes multiple times

•   Create models of the topic you are studying (ex. the human brain)

•   Use objects to represent models (ex. marbles to represent numbers in math)

•   Study while exercising

•   Act out your materials (ex. historical conquests)

•   Use flash cards

•   Create a game out of it (ex. memory game: flip over the matching word and definition)

•   Teach the material in an active way

•   Allot scheduled study breaks

•   Try pacing while reading your material aloud

•   Use your finger to trace while you read

•   Do something physical while studying (ex. squeeze a stress ball)

Which style sounds most like you? Next time you're preparing for a quiz, test or exam, try out some of these learning style tips and let us know how it works out!

Until next time,

Rajani Sellathurai







Resources used in this post:

AA&CC Learning Styles Tipsheet: http://www.utsc.utoronto.ca/aacc/sites/utsc.utoronto.ca.aacc/files/tipsheets/Academic_Advising_Tipsheets/LearningStyles.pdf

American River College Study Tips for Different Learning Styles:
http://www.gavilan.edu/tutor/documents/StudyTipsforDifferentLearningStyles_000.pdf

IUPUI 3 Learning Styles:
http://blc.new.uc.iupui.edu/academic-enrichment/study-skills/learning-styles/3-learning-styles

An Overview of Career- and Work-Related Resources at UTSC: CLN

Looking for resources both on campus and online, pertaining to the topics of job search and academics may be rather challenging. For this reason, I have compiled a list of resources that will help students throughout their academic journey here at the University of Toronto Scarborough. This post will be the beginning of a series that will examine quite a number of these resources in greater detail. I will list links to everything discussed at the end of the blog post.

Career Learning Network (CLN)

CLN provides students access to a large amount of job opportunities off and on-campus, in addition to resources in relation to internships and work-study positions also.  Some of these jobs can be applied to via email, that of which includes a resume and cover letter which can be directly uploaded onto the website, made readily accessible to an employer.

As I’ve mentioned before, CLN has many academic and career related workshops that you can sign up for. It has numerous workshops available every day!  I, personally, attended one called, Mastering Multiple Choice Tests and Exams because it would be beneficial for upcoming midterms. I was impressed with how much thought went into the ideas brought up during the workshop. For example, the key to doing well on multiple choice questions is practicing how to recall ideas immediately after you study them. You should break up long readings into sections, and after reading one section, you should be able to briefly recount the information you just read. By doing this, you will be able to recall these ideas on an exam. I think these workshops are incredibly useful, and I encourage all students to attend them.

Under the Resources tab, the CLN has links to external web pages including:

1.           Career Cruising: explore job titles and fill out questionnaires to see what jobs are suitable for your interests.

2.           Going Global: thinking about working abroad? Going Global has career guides organized by country, job postings, resume and interview information, etc.

3.           Directory of Careers and Employment in Canada: information about jobs, scholarships, the ebook “Ten Ways to get Straight A’s” which outlines how to achieve academic success

4.           The Vault: Ranks companies, features information about different industries, job search strategies, and also features a blog about career advice.

Next time, I’ll be taking you through The Vault in greater detail. I’ll also be attending a session with a career counselor to review and discuss my online self-assessment results, and I’ll share that experience with you as well.  I hope you will use the wide variety of resources available to you, and develop a deeper understanding about your future career.

Good luck on your midterms!

Angelin

Links to pages discussed in blog post:

1.     CLN: https://cln.utoronto.ca/home.htm

2.     Resources Tab (CLN): https://cln.utoronto.ca/myAccount/resources/studentResources/studentresources.htm

Tips on how to Create an Outstanding Resume

 

Have you ever wondered how to ensure that you stand out from other candidates when applying for an employment opportunity?  To be a successful candidate in today's competitive job market, it is extremely crucial to develop the skill of effectively marketing yourself.  Below are a few tips on how you can develop an outstanding resume.

1)  First Impressions:  Many recruiters spend about 10 seconds looking at each resume, and therefore you should try to make your first impression a lasting impression!  Create a resume that is well structured, concise, and specific using key words that recruiters care about.

2) List Experiences instead of Job Description:  When listing experiences on your resume, you should avoid listing responsibilities and should shift your focus towards concrete examples that show your abilities.  Start your bullet points with a strong action verb.  Afterwards, detail the impact that the action had by perhaps quantifying your accomplishments using statistics, percentages and performance results.

3)  Professional Internet Presence:  It is without doubt that managers are  increasingly using social media to recruit employees.  Including the link to your LinkedIn profile in the contact section of your resume would definitely be a great idea.  Aside from LinkedIn, keeping all your posts on other social media websites professional would also be a great idea as managers will not hesitate to search for you online.   

4)  Focus on what you plan to accomplish rather than what you have done:  One of the main purposes of a resume is to show employers what you can help them achieve in the future.  When writing your resume, be sure to not merely focus on experiences you have had in the past, but also what you see yourself accomplishing for the company in the future.

Always remember that whether you have no idea how to begin writing your resume or if you would like to have your resume critiqued, the Academic Advising & Career Centre has many resources that you can definitely take advantage of including Tip Sheets, Workshops, Information Sessions and more!

Feel free to visit www.cln.utoronto.ca to sign up for any events, or come by our office at AC213 to book an appointment.  

For more information about the Academic Advising & Career Centre, visit www.utsc.utoronto.ca/aacc. 

Good luck with your job search!  Until next time,

Klarrissa Antony